Blues Gal

'Home Staging' Mania Could Signal Housing Bottom

Hey folks,
"Staging" doesn't always mean filling a house with a bunch of new stuff. It can be something as simple as getting the homeowner to declutter and clean up the place. This isn't manipulation of the buyer, it's helping the buyer (who often can't see past all the "stuff"), to see the house itself. In this market, it's a smart move for the seller to do this, and I don't believe that a buyer who prefers a clean house to a pig pen is a "stupid" buyer.
As for the book, yup, today's sellers are getting desperate, there are alot of homes out there, and they want their's to be the one that catches the buyer's eye. Tim's wry comments hold alot of truth about the situation.

The Assault on Ethical Home Appraisals

Whether the writer of the column believes it or not, I have seen appraisals being used to sell foreclosures in our area, that were done by someone who was employed by the mortgage holder, but who never even set foot in our STATE, nevermind our town. So, say what you will, it's been happening. The big, bad realtors (mercy me, the wolves ), were not the only ones who caused the economic debacle. It was human greed, plain and simple. And guess what? Bankers and wall street manipulators were in it WAY more than the real estate brokers. No, I was not a real estate broker.

Unraveling the Housing Glut

Very interesting article. Well done. Remains to be seen if it's accurate though. I hope it is. Hardwood floor's comments were also interesting to me since my husband is in the lumber industry and his observations about how the housing supply industries have had to close up shop in this country for the last couple of years were right on.

Sirius XM Available on iPhone: The Wait Is Over

Thanks for the info guys...

Sirius XM Available on iPhone: The Wait Is Over

Where have all the usual Sirius commentators gone? I've been reading the latest posts about Sirius and have noticed that we don't see our friends who were consistent posters for these past dismal months? Hello, are you still out there, if so where have you gone to?

Long the Financials? Solving the Mortgage Problems Will Help

The US Postal Service is a quasi-governmental agency. The President appoints 9 out of the 11 board members, they are then confirmed by the Senate. Those board members then appoint a Postmaster General and he appoints the next in command.
It is then supposed to be run as a business.

Long the Financials? Solving the Mortgage Problems Will Help

I agree with your last paragraph especially. As for your solutions, seems like the government has to be involved in every aspect of the economy!
Maybe this is what we've come to. President Obama seems to think so. Giving this much power to Washington can only bring more frustration. Look at how the government operates right now, it functions on deficit spending and can't even run a Postal Service that doesn't lose money. I'm afraid that this doesn't inspire much confidence in me.

Why Is AIG Backing Fannie / Freddie 'Enhanced' Mortgages?

Should we be surprised by this behavior on the part of our government agencies? Probably not. It's just more of the same.

Obama's Foreclosure Plan: A Closer Look

Atlasman,
It's Obama's Treasury secretary who cheated on his taxes, he doesn't have a Commerce secretary yet. But, aside from that, I totally agree with your point. That whole crew has no clue what this country needs are more jobs that actually produce things that help the GNP, not more subsidized government work programs. Who's paying for all these "jobs"? The American taxpayer who can barely stand up to the load the morons in Washington already have him saddled with!

Housing Affordability Surges

I agree with Ratwatcher. That family, with that income, would not be able to come up with the cash they'd need for all the other costs of home ownership. These include taxes and insurance, not to mention ordinary maintenance and repairs, and a little item called food, goes on top of that!
Forget about it!

Personal Responsibility and the Housing Bubble

Yes, Americans are always looking for someone else to blame for all their troubles. Then they want to have the government (us taxpayers) bail them out of their mess. We've built a culture of irresponsibility and now we must pay the consequences. It sucks, because I'm of the "only buy what you can afford" culture. So, I'm paying for others stupidity and greed.
That said, I agree that HGTV did contribute to the bubble, it didn't cause it.
With shows like "Flip This House" and "The Property Ladder" on TLC, a person was led to believe that he could make a quick buck with a bit of labor and luck. Very unrealistic, but made for good entertaiment. Then greed comes in and guess what? Lots of folks who are totally lacking in knowledge of this task, jump in to try it. Oops......harder than they thought, well, lets just let the bank have it back.

The 28-33% Mortgage Payment Rule: Confronting Reality

I agree with the article. Another idea to add to this would be to help those
in unaffordable mortgages find new housing that they can afford. There is
a growing amount of housing that is being abandoned, at all price levels.
Lets move the folks down a notch into a house that has payments that are
within their budget! The banks probably already have houses in their own
portfolios of delinquent loans that they could work these people into.

Changing the Nation's Mindset About Housing

Yes, they do teach basic money skills in high school. My sister-in-law is a
teacher and "How to Budget" and the lessons a person needs to be able
to handle their money are a part of her courses. But, she has found that
the students are more interested in what's going on after school than in
what will be going on in their future. And she is not a dry and boring
instructor. Many parents are not holding their kids responsible for their
behavior, we are babying them into thinking that everything will be handed
to them on a silver platter. So, we now have 2 generations of people who
think the world owes them everything they want, the kids and these parents!
Don't know if the present financial crisis will spur more people to find out
about how to handle personal finances, I sure hope it does, it's high time!

Fannie/Freddie Bailout 'Disastrous Fiasco'

"Privatizing profits and socializing losses." Right on Kevin.
That's our government working for us.

Bush Housing Law: Cheap Compared to the Alternatives

This analysis sounds like a plug for another government bailout by someone who will be benefiting from said bailout. I don't believe the American taxpayer will be a beneficiary though. House prices need to
come back down to the 2002 or 2003 levels. A decrease of only 10 to 25% doesn't bring them back to affordability for the average american worker. We've gotten ourselves to the place now, that as a nation, we need two wage earners in a family, to be able to afford a place to live. If the government bailout goes forward as described by the author of this article, houses will still be unaffordable for many. The reason for this is that wages never increased at the pace that house prices increased. So, you still have the average wage earner making only a bit more than he did 5 years ago. Even if
home prices decrease by 25%, that will still be more than the wage earner is able to prudently buy into. Lets stop kidding ourselves and
admit that this royal screwup caused by greed, lack of common sense, and legal and financial sleight of hand, will be with us for at least one generation, maybe even two.